This month Faith Continuum continues every Sunday at 9 am in the Fireside Room with Dr. Sarah Ruble's series on "How did we get to..."? All Sundays, we will have in-person discussions on Sarah's video series. Although it is a series, the topics are individually covered. Therefore, do not be concerned that if you miss a Sunday, you will be too far behind to attend another Sunday.

Feb 2nd - How did we get to the doctrine that "Jesus was fully human and fully divine"? - Often Christians say that Jesus was “fully human and fully divine.” Yet, for some people, this affirmation seems far removed from the stories of an itinerant teacher wandering around Galilee. This Sunday we will explore why early Christians affirmed Jesus’ full humanity and fully divinity and what they meant by that affirmation. Sarah argues that Christological doctrines (or doctrines about the person and work of Jesus) were an attempt to work out what the Bible said about Jesus and what would have to be true of the humanity and divinity of Jesus in order for Jesus to be sufficient for salvation.

Feb 9th - How did we get to the doctrine of "Original Sin" - Have you ever wondered what people mean when they say “the doctrine of original sin”? One might think that it simply means “the first sin,” but in Christian theology the doctrine of original sin often means a doctrine about not just the first sin, but the guilt that all humanity carries because of “the first sin.” In this episode, we will explore how the idea of original sin became tied with original guilt. This Sunday we will explore why for Augustine of Hippo, one key thinker in the development of the doctrine of original sin, the doctrine was born out in his experience, attested to in Scripture, and tied to a strong doctrine of grace. Many branches of Christianity have wrestled with this theological inheritance, whether they agree with Augustine or not.

Feb 16th - How did we get to the distinction of Judaism and Christianity - Today, most people take for granted that Judaism and Christianity are distinct religions. This Sunday we explore how this distinction came to be. We also consider some contemporary Christian beliefs about Judaism, particularly related to first-century Jewish understandings of grace and works, and the argument that these beliefs misrepresent first-century Judaism.

Feb 23th - How did we get to the doctrine of Justification by Faith - For many Protestant Christians justification by faith is a central doctrine. Yet not all Christians have understood it as central and, even among those who do, not all agree on what it means. This Sunday we trace the development of the doctrine of justification by faith. We discuss that it is a biblical, but not the only biblical, theme related to salvation. We review that as the doctrine developed, particularly among Christians influenced by the theology of Augustine, the meaning of justification shifted. Augustine had understood justification as demanding a real change in a person (a real change made by God in the person). Martin Luther, and many Protestants, came to understand it as God’s declaration about a person’s status based only on Christ’s merit.